This generation will not pass away: Before All these things take place.

 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. 

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

 So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” Matthew 12:38–45

 This passage is of great importance in ascertaining the true meaning of the phrase ‘this generation’ [ἡ γενεὰ ἁυτὴ].

 It can only refer, in this place, to the people of Israel then living—the existing generation. No commentator has ever proposed to call γενεὰ here the Jewish race in all ages. Our Lord was accustomed to speak of His contemporaries as this generation: Whereunto shall I liken this generation?’—that is, the men of that day who would listen neither to His forerunner nor to Himself’ (Matt. 11:16; Luke 7:31). Even commentators like Stier, who contend for the rendering of γενεὰ by race or lineage in other passages, admit that the reference in these words is ‘to the generation living in that then extant and most important age.’

 So in the passage before us there can be no controversy respecting the application of the words exclusively to the then existing generation, the contemporaries of Christ.

 Of the aggravated and enormous wickedness of that period our Lord here testifies. The generation has just before been addressed by Him in the very words of the Baptist—‘O brood of vipers’ Matt.12:34. Its guilt is declared to surpass that of the heathen; it is likened to a demoniac, from whom the unclean spirit had departed for a while, but returned in greater force than before, accompanied by seven other spirits more wicked than himself, so that ‘the last state of that man is worse than that first.’

 We have in the testimony of Josephus a striking confirmation of our Lord’s description of the moral condition of that generation. ‘As it were impossible to relate their enormities in detail, I shall briefly state that no other city ever endured similar calamities, and no generation ever existed more prolific in crime. They confessed themselves to be, what they were—slaves, and the very dregs of society, the spurious and polluted spawn of the nation.’

 ‘And here I cannot refrain from expressing what my feelings suggest. I am of opinion, that had the Romans deferred the punishment of these wretches, either the earth would have opened and swallowed up the city, or it would have been swept away by a deluge, or have shared the thunderbolts of the land of Sodom. For it produced a race far more ungodly than those who were thus visited.

 For through the desperate madness of these men the whole nation was involved in their ruin.’

 ‘That period had somehow become so prolific in iniquity of every description amongst the Jews, that no work of evil was left unperpetrated; … so universal was the contagion, both in public and private, and such the emulation to surpass each other in acts of impiety towards God, and of injustice towards their neighbors'.’

 Such was the fearful condition to which the nation was hastening when our Lord uttered these prophetic words. The climax had not yet been reached, but it was full in view. The unclean spirit had not yet returned to his house, but he was on the way. As Stier remarks, ‘In the period between the ascension of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem, especially towards the end of it, this nation shows itself, one might say, as if possessed by seven thousand devils Matt. 12:43–45.’ Is not this an adequate and complete fulfilment of our Savior's prediction?

 Have we the slightest warrant or need for saying that it means something else, or something more, than this? What pretense is there for supposing a further and future fulfilment of His words? Is it not a virtual discrediting of the prophecy to seek any other than the plain and obvious sense which points so distinctly to an approaching catastrophe about to befall that very generation?

 Surely we show most reverence to the Word of God when we accept implicitly its obvious teaching, and refuse the unwarranted and merely human speculations which critics and theologians have drawn from their own fancy.

 We conclude, then, that, in the notorious profligacy of that age, and the signal calamities which before its close overwhelmed the Jewish people, we have the historical attestation of the exhaustive fulfilment of this prophecy. James Stuart Russell, The Parousia: A Critical Inquiry into the New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord’s Second Coming (London: Daldy, Isbister & Co., 1878), 18–20.

I tell all of you with certainty, this generation will not disappear until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.” Mark 13:30–31 ISV

As we try to come to a conclusion about the interpretation of this difficult passage, two things should be kept in mind. First, Jesus’ purpose in uttering these words is not to give an exact date for his return (see Mk.13: 32), but rather to indicate the certainty of his return. This point is underscored in the next verse, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31).

 Second, it seems arbitrary and unwarranted to impose any kind of limitation on the words “before all these things take place”—

since such a limitation really makes Jesus say, “before some of these things take place.” 

Though it is true that the discourse recorded in Mark 13 took its occasion from a prediction of the destruction of the temple (Mk.13:2), the discourse itself includes the prediction of such happenings as wars and rumors of wars (Mk.13:7), earthquakes and famines (Mk.13:8), the preaching of the gospel to all nations (Mk.13:10), persecution for the gospel’s sake (Mk.13:12-13), tribulation “such as has not been from the beginning … and never will be” (Mk.13:19), portents in the heavens (Mk.13:24), and the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds with great power and glory (Mk.13:26). 

When later in the discourse (Mk.13:30) Jesus says, “This generation will not pass away before all these things take place,” 

any understanding of these words which excludes some of the items just mentioned seems forced.

Hence I conclude that by “all these things” Jesus means all the eschatological events he has just enumerated, including his return upon the clouds of heaven. His point is that all these events are certain to come to pass—though heaven and earth will pass away, these words shall infallibly be fulfilled. Anthony A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994), 116.

It is not easy to conceive of the preaching of the gospel to all the nations as falling within the lifetime of that generation. It is true (Rom. 1:13; 10:18; 15:19–24; Colossians 1:6; 1 Timothy 3:16; 2 Timothy 4:17) might be quoted in support of such a view. In the statement of Jesus, however, it is definitely predicted that the preaching of the gospel to all the nations not only must happen before the end, but that it straightway precedes the end: “Then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14). To distinguish between the preaching of the gospel to all the nations and the completion of the gentile mission, as Zahn proposes, is artificial. As over against these objections, however, it must be admitted that the grouping of all these later phenomena before the end proper avoids the difficulty arising from “immediately” in Matthew 24:29 and from “in those days” in Mark 13:24.

Geerhardus Vos, Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation: The Shorter Writings of Geerhardus Vos, ed. Richard B. Gaffin Jr. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2001), 33.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end-συντέλεια is not yet. Matthew 24:6. (note συντέλεια-the last part of a process, close, conclusion, esp. of the last things, the final act in the cosmic drama)

And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end-τέλος will come. Matthew 24:14 (note τέλος-a point of time marking completion of a duration, completion, close, end.)

 (William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 974,998)

But history is full of such troubled periods; the disciples must not get things out of perspective, or be panicked into imagining that “the end” is imminent. It is not spelled out here what that “end” (telos) is, [pace Davies & Allison, 3.340, who assert with no supporting evidence that “’The end’ means ‘the end of the age’ (Matt.24:3),” even though the Greek word used in Matt.24:3 is not the same as here] but the same term will occur in Mat.24:14, where it leads into a description of the coming siege of Jerusalem. It seems probable therefore that the word has the same reference here, and that Mat.24:14 is a deliberate pick-up from this pronouncement: “it is not yet the end … but then the end will come.”

 The question which Jesus is here answering was about when the temple would be destroyed, and that is the “end” most naturally understood here.

 [Note that the word used is τέλος, not συντέλεια which in Matt.24:3b denotes the “end” of the age.] It is coming soon, and Mat.24:34 will spell out how soon, but that does not mean that it is imminent as soon as war is on the horizon.

R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co., 2007), 903.

 Through the preaching of the Gospel he kept his promise—first to the Jews, and afterward to the Gentiles. Christ fulfilled this through his death and resurrection. This means that Jerusalem and the Sanctuary would be completely destroyed because of their rebellion against God and their idolatry; or, as some read it, the plagues will be so great that all will be astonished by them. (Geneva Bible: Notes, vol. 1 (Geneva: Rovland Hall, 1560), 363.)

 Forasmuch as the false apostles had, after a sort, persuaded the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord was nigh at hand, and therewith the redemption of the Church; Paul instructed them to look for this horrible desolation first, and therefore rather to arm themselves with patience than to give them over unto rest and quietness: for as yet there was a hindrance, to wit, that the Gospel must first be preached throughout all. (Geneva Bible: Notes, vol. 2 (Geneva: Rovland Hall, 1560), 96)

 For I will not be so bold as to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, Romans 15:18–21

 “Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand. Isa.52:15” 

 Thus, under the influence of heavenly power, and with the divine co-operation, the doctrine of the Savior, like the rays of the sun, quickly illumined the whole world; and straightway, in accordance with the divine Scriptures Psa. 19:4, 

the voice of the inspired evangelists and apostles went forth through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

 Compare Col. 1:6.,23 That Christianity had already spread over the whole world at this time is, of course, an exaggeration; but the statement is not a mere rhetorical flourish; it was believed as a historical fact. This conception arose originally out of the idea that the second coming of Christ was near, and the whole world must know of him before his coming. The tradition that the apostles preached in all parts of the world is to be traced back to the same cause. 

Eusebius of Caesaria, “The Church History of Eusebius,” in Eusebius: Church History, Life of Constantine the Great, and Oration in Praise of Constantine, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, vol. 1, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1890), 107.        

Take courage and do not abandon your hope,
for you will have great joy like the angels of heaven.
And what will you have to do?
You will not have to hide on the day of the great judgment,
and you will not be found as the sinners,
and the great judgment will be (far) from you
for all the generations of eternity.
Fear not, O righteous, when you see the sinners growing strong and prospering,
and do not be their companions;
but stay far from all their iniquities,
for you will be companions of the host of heaven.

George W. E. Nickelsburg and James C. VanderKam, 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012), 161.

“Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Matt. 24:29

Sky-signs. The figurative character of this verse is apparent. It does not describe actual events. It belongs to astrological rather than to astronomical associations. 

There is no literal interpretation of these words possible.

 Isaiah uses similar symbols in prophesying the Divine judgments on Babylon (Isa. 13:10), and we may reasonably think that such a scriptural passage suggested our Lord’s statement. “Even the common speech of men describes a time of tribulation as one in which ‘the skies are dark,’ and the ‘sun of a nation’s glory sets in gloom.’ ” The verse is plainly poetical and pictorial, but what it pictures is the series of terrible civil calamities and commotions and distresses which attended the Roman siege of Jerusalem. It is not necessary to suppose any allusion to a future breaking-up of the framework of the earth in the last times. Of that no man really knows; and no precise description has been or could be given. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., St. Matthew, vol. 2, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 469.

 Then “shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven.” Words like these were used by the Hebrew prophets as symbolical of the fall of earthly empires—of Babylon, of Edom, of Egypt (Isa. 13:10; 34:4; Ezek. 32:7). The Prophet Joel (2:30, 31), in a passage quoted by St. Peter (Acts. 2:19, 20), describes the like portents as ushering in “the great and terrible day of the Lord.” St. John saw similar wonders, in vision, at the opening of the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12, 13), when “the great day of his wrath was come.”

 We must receive the Lord’s words with reverent awe, as foretelling the terrors of that tremendous day, when “the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.” It is the grand, lofty language of prophecy; we need not attempt to bring the details down to the lower plane of science. Our part is rather to listen to the warning of St. Peter, “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness?” 

H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., St. Matthew, vol. 2, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 450.

It is easy to understand how the erroneous opinion of the Thessalonians should have ‘troubled and shaken’ their minds. It was calculated to produce panic and disorder. History tells us that a general belief prevailed in Europe towards the close of the tenth century that the year 1000 would witness the coming of Christ, the day of judgment, and the end of the world.

 As the time drew near, a general panic seized the minds of men. Many abandoned their homes and their families, and repaired to the Holy Land; others made over their lands to the Church, or permitted them to lie uncultivated, and the whole course of ordinary life was violently disturbed and deranged. A similar delusion, though on a smaller scale, prevailed in some parts of the United States in the year 1843, causing great consternation among multitudes, and driving many persons out of their senses.

 Facts like these show the wisdom which ‘hid the day and the hour’ of the Son of man’s coming, so that, while all might be watchful, none should be thrown into agitation. 

James Stuart Russell, The Parousia: A Critical Inquiry into the New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord’s Second Coming (London: Daldy, Isbister & Co., 1878), 177–178.

  Apocalyptic fervor no doubt inspired the movement behind the Jewish war of A.D. 66–70, which was supported by the Pharisees. Josephus tells us of a series of messianic movements that attempted to overthrow the Roman occupation (cf. also Theudas and Judas the Galilean in Acts 5:36–37). The Zealots, the Sicarii, and the Qumran community are inexplicable without this apocalyptic fervor, and The War Scroll testifies to the (Essene) preparedness for the final eschatological battle against “the children of darkness.” 

  Because it was this apocalyptic stimulant that according to the fathers of Jamnia had been responsible for the war and the destruction of Jerusalem, they purged and/or softened the apocalyptic element from the Mishna (A.D. 180) and became exceedingly cautious about apocalyptic speculation. Louis Ginsburg gives a good example of the new sobriety of the rabbis after the war:  R. Johanan ben Zakkai...

 “If thou hast a sapling in thy hands and thou art told: Behold, the Messiah has come, plant thy sapling and then go to meet him”  

J. Christiaan Beker, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1984), 137–138. 

Despite all the biblical references to the unknowable, the “nearby” remains; the proclamation about the Kingdom is expressed in terms of the present also. This does not amount to a denial of the chronological continuity of history and its replacement by an eternity concept. The “nearby” is on a level with the New Testament message that the time had fully come (Gal. 4:4).

We are often at a loss to explain much of the scriptural language about the reality of the Kingdom. We frequently think of it as an enigma, if not a contradiction. This is a problem that evidently did not bother the apostles. When we hear the expression “the end of the age” (Heb. 9:26), we hardly think of Bethlehem, but instead only of the Day of Judgment. Our notion of “the last hour” is different from John’s (1 John 2:18). This is probably why we no longer fully understand the call to watchfulness that is so closely connected with the proclamation of the “nearby.” G. C. Berkouwer, The Return of Christ, Studies in Dogmatics (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1972), 89.

The fulfilment about which Christ spoke was not merely a formal coming-true of earlier prophecies; it signaled the appearance of the reality of salvation, the fulfilment, the now, the today of the time of salvation, the Messianic season of the acceptable year of the Lord [Luke 4:19; cf. Isa. 61:1—to “proclaim”]. This is what Paul meant when he wrote that God had sent His Son “when the time had fully come” (Gal. 4:4). This is not just a highly significant phase that turns out to be relative after all, or a subdivision of the total time-continuum with the character of eternity.

 No, it is the “hour of all hours,” because it has the weight of eternity.

 Here if anywhere all notions of futurism are strikingly absent. Throughout, attention is focused on the present: “Behold, now is the acceptable time (kairós euprósdektos); now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). This time—which is history nonetheless—is so special and unique that it can be said about those living then, “blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matt. 13:16f.). 

The unseen and unheard is now a present reality, and what had been hidden from the foundation of the world is proclaimed (cf. Ps. 78:2; Matt. 13:35). In comparison with its former hiddenness, its uniqueness now comes into sharp focus. Paul too speaks of this reality as “the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:25f.). G. C. Berkouwer, The Return of Christ, Studies in Dogmatics (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1972), 99–100.

 The New Testament portrays this new and unique time of salvation, which began with the coming of Christ, in a variety of ways. It is expressed particularly in the distinction between “former” and “now.” This distinction is not meant to devaluate God’s dealings with the world in times past. Rather, the past obtains its meaning in its orientation to what comes later.

 In the “now” of the time of salvation, the veil has been removed, and the reality of Him who was “manifested in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16), is with us.

 This manifestation is of a decisive and, therefore, singular character because of the unity of the event. Christ appeared once at the end of ages, “to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26). He has accomplished this once and for all in an unrepeatable event. Repetition of this event would be superfluous and is, in fact, impossible: “there is no longer any offering for sin” (Heb. 10:18).

Does this not clearly indicate the end, fulfilment, and goal of God’s plans on earth? Has the promise not been unmistakably fulfilled in this event? Has the dynamic of the expectation not finally been consummated in this new condition of life in which the appearance of the Lord is seen? Has the time of grace not now come; have the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, not now appeared (epephánē—Titus 3:4)? Is sin not put away (Heb. 9:26) and death abolished (2 Tim. 1:10)? Is the true light not already shining (1 John 2:8—ḗdē phainei)? Is it not true that we are now saved by baptism, now adopted as children of the Most High, now (nýn) justified through the blood of the Lamb (1 Pet. 3:21; 1 John 3:2; Rom. 5:9)? G. C. Berkouwer, The Return of Christ, Studies in Dogmatics (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1972), 101.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. The “recollection of the creed” in 1 Thess.4:14 presupposes that the Thessalonians believed that Christ’s dying and rising was the basis for the Christians’ hope for the resurrection of the dead. But instead of quoting the expectation of the resurrection in the second part of the formula, Paul alters the sentence:

 “God will lead through Jesus those who have died with him,” that is, Paul replaces the traditional reference to the resurrection by a statement about God leading the dead with him (namely, Jesus). His concerns here are the concerns of the community in Thessalonike: will those who have died be united with us at the Parousia? That this question was raised by the Christians in Thessalonike demonstrates that they had very well understood Paul’s message and the aim of his missionary work, namely the founding of communities who are united in their expectation of the arrival of the Lord.

Paul’s personal role is closely related to this event, because his task is fulfilled and his reward certain if the community is indeed found prepared when the Lord arrives. 

 That the existence of the community had thus been freed from such concerns does not imply that Paul no longer expected the day of the Lord, the raising of the dead, and the coming of the Lord. On the contrary, one could argue that the expectation of the nearness of these events was even intensified in the later writings of Paul. Using the same terms employed in 1 Thess. 5:1–11 (time, to arise from sleep, salvation, night, day, to put on the weapons of light), Rom 13:11–14 even radicalizes the expectation of the nearness: For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. (Rom 13:11). Neither 1 Thessalonians nor Romans was written by someone who was worried about the “delay of the Parousia.” 

But both letters base the existence of the community of believers on the statement that they already belong to the “day” in their present existence.

Helmut Koester, Paul & His World: Interpreting the New Testament in Its Context (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007), 60,66.

In Acts the resurrection is the climax of God’s saving purposes, and it is on the basis of the resurrection that the blessings of salvation may be offered. The reason for this appears to be that in the resurrection of Jesus, the hoped-for resurrection age to come has arrived already, and it is because of the arrival of the age to come that the blessings of that age may now be received. This is stated in the narrative climax of Luke’s references to Jesus’ resurrection in Acts 26:23.

Alan J. Thompson, The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s Account of God’s Unfolding Plan, ed. D. A. Carson, vol. 27, New Studies in Biblical Theology (England; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; InterVarsity Press, 2011), 79.   

 They did see the end-time salvation as commencing with a resurrection of the righteous, though admittedly the Sadducees did not (2 Macc. 7:11, 14, 23; compare Acts 23:6; 24:21). Luke does not hesitate to populate his narrative with pious Jews living expectantly for that deliverance (Lk. 2:25, 38; 7:19; 23:51). Paul emphasizes the way they live out their expectation: in fervent (en ekteneia-earnestness, often descriptive of prayer; Lk 22:44; Acts 12:5), consistent (day and night, at morning and evening sacrifice; Lk. 2:37) corporate worship of God (latreuō; Acts 24:14; 27:23). It is certainly a “living hope,” a goal which they were expecting to attain (compare Phil 3:11–14, where Paul shows the same stance toward the full manifestation of the hope).

If Paul has such strong continuity with pious Jews, why is there such opposition to him and his message of hope? 

Paul declared that in the risen and exalted Lord Jesus the promises have been fulfilled and the hope is now a present reality (Acts 13:32/2 Sam 7:11–17; Acts 13:23). This Paul will explicitly proclaim at the climax of the proof section of his speech (Acts 26:22–23).

This is the main question for every individual, whatever his or her religious, ideological or cultural heritage: Is Jesus your hope? The Christian message asks, Will you repent of your false hopes—the American dream for the next generation, the Hindu’s Nirvana, the Muslim’s paradise—and let Jesus be your true hope? William J. Larkin Jr., Acts, vol. 5, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1995), Ac 26:1–8.